Naming Rights
by irite
Summary: Betty and Bruce are getting married, but there a few decisions that need to be made first. Movieverse. Oneshot.


**Many thanks and my apologies to my amazing beta, dysprositos, who almost went into a fluff coma while reading this.**

**This takes place in a very unlikely future several years post-Avengers.**

* * *

They'd been putting this off for the better part of a month, but Betty Ross knew that with their wedding coming up later this year, she and her fiancé, Bruce Banner, needed to start making some decisions.

He had suggested having a small wedding, and she had agreed with him. She wasn't talking to her father anymore, not after everything she had found out about his fanaticism about the supersoldier project. The way he'd lied to and manipulated everybody, herself included, didn't help his case either.

And as she didn't have any other close family, that meant all the planning was on their shoulders.

In preparation for today, then, Betty had told Bruce in no uncertain terms that he was taking the weekend off from his work as a SHIELD consultant, and she stayed up late a few nights the week before grading to make sure that she wouldn't be busy.

And then she'd locked the door of their apartment in Stark Tower, told JARVIS that they weren't to be disturbed, and plunked down the book of wedding ideas that Pepper had somehow had the time to put together for her.

Pepper had also offered to help with the planning, but Betty wanted to give this a go on her own first. Well, with just Bruce first. But she figured she'd be going to Pepper for help soon enough. Other than being a bridesmaid in two weddings when she was younger, Betty didn't have any experience with them.

So she was grateful for Pepper's help. Betty opened the book and made sure her tablet was close by before turning to Bruce.

He was immersed in his cell phone, his eyebrows scrunched together as he sent a text. It was adorable in an exasperating way; her cell phone was in her purse in their bedroom and Betty was sure that Bruce knew that "no distractions" meant no cell phones.

So she sighed and said, "So I was thinking my dress should be purple and green in honor of the big guy."

Bruce didn't even look up from his phone, just said, "That's great, honey."

Hmm. He really had been spending too much time with Tony lately. Betty waited, though, and sure enough, a moment later Bruce's head lifted from his phone and he all but shrieked, "What?" his voice kicking up an octave.

She didn't even bother trying to keep from laughing at his expression, and a smile spread across his face as he watched her crack up.

When she had stopped, he said, "Just give me a sec, Tony's being demanding."

He sent another text and turned his phone off, setting it on the coffee table. Betty made a mental note of its location because Bruce was forever forgetting or sitting on his phone and glasses, and if she didn't keep track of them, no one would.

"Sorry," he said. "What do you want to decide?"

"You don't particularly care to make the decisions about my dress and everything, right?"

Bruce made a face at that, and Betty laughed again. She was so happy to be here with him; three years ago she thought she had lost Bruce forever.

But then she had received an offer to come teach in New York and consult for SHIELD on the side. Attached to the email was a note from the legendary Pepper Potts herself, inviting Betty to come live in Stark Tower.

Pepper had said that the Tower housed one of Betty's old friends, and Betty had gone to New York to check things out and see Bruce. After seeing the Hulk on TV during several of the Avengers' televised battles, who else could the 'old friend' be?

Bruce hadn't known she was coming, had been very surprised to see her, but he had a confidence about him that he hadn't had the last time they'd seen each other, before he'd stepped out of a helicopter over Harlem.

She hadn't expected to jump back into a romantic relationship with him, just planned on being his friend, but about a month after she'd accepted the great job offer at the college (not SHIELD, she knew that they had been involved in the manhunt for Bruce that had ended in Harlem and she couldn't get the idea that she might be asked to help chase down some other poor innocent out of her mind) and moved to New York, he asked her out to lunch.

It had gone well, and they'd been together ever since even though sometimes it didn't work. There had been a three month period where he'd decided he couldn't take the city and gone to work with Doctors Without Borders, but Betty had known that it would take time.

And then he had come back and a year later, he'd proposed.

Which left them where they were today, trying to start making wedding plans.

"So, your involvement with the dress is a no-go, got it. You just want to wear a standard tux, right?"

Bruce made another face at that; Betty knew how much he hated the so-called 'penguin suits.'

But he said, "Yeah, sure," and she marked that down. She could get his measurements later.

"Okay, have you decided who you want to be your Best Man yet?"

"I was thinking Tony, if he can restrain from poking me with sharp and/or electrified objects for that long. Is that okay?"

"Bruce, he's _your_ Best Man, as long as it isn't Dad, I don't care who it is."

Bruce didn't find those jokes as funny as she did, but the serious expression he wore was different than his usual reaction.

She waited for him to explain, and after a moment, he started hesitantly, "Betty, have you thought about a name change?"

She had. "I was thinking I want to change it. Ross isn't exactly a name I want to hang on to, you know?"

"That's the thing...Banner isn't a name I want to hang onto, either."

Betty hadn't been expecting that, but given what she knew of Bruce's family background—which he quite understandably didn't like to talk about—she wasn't surprised, really.

"Well, neither of us have middle names that would work well as an alternate last name, so what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I mean, you don't like Ross and I don't like Banner, so why don't we pick something new?"

"But how? There are endless possibilities for last names out there."

Betty gave it a moment of thought, then suggested, "How about the old-fashioned way? Get a phone book and pick a name at random out of it."

"That would work," Bruce said, looking around. "I don't think we have a phone book, though."

"That can be fixed easily enough." Betty stood up. "JARVIS, is there a phone book in the Tower?"

"There is one in the main lobby, although it is several years old. You can ask for it at the reception desk."

"Okay, thanks, JARVIS. Come on, Bruce, let's go!"

He reached for her hand as they walked to the elevator, and they didn't let go until Bruce took the phone book from the confused but polite receptionist and moved over into a back corner where most of the lobby's inhabitants couldn't see them.

Then he asked, "Uh, how do we do this?"

"Give me your hand," Betty said. "Now close your eyes, and no peeking!" She closed her own eyes.

"How do I know you're not peeking?" Bruce bumped his hip into hers playfully.

"Okay, fine, here, cover my eyes with your free hand, and I'll cover yours."

They maneuvered their arms into position, Bruce accidentally elbowing Betty in the neck in the process. Then, Bruce opened the phone book with his unoccupied hand, and Betty felt around until she could put her hand on top of his.

Bruce moved his hand around in a random pattern, Betty's on top of it, until she pushed downward and his finger hit the phone book.

Then they unwrapped their arms and Betty bent down slightly to read the book, pushing Bruce's finger out of the way.

"Leonard," she said sourly. "I vote no." She didn't particularly want to have her ex-boyfriend's name as a last name. Seemed awkward.

"I can see why." Bruce leaned towards her. "Want to try again?"

Betty eyed the phone book before flipping it shut and pushing her bangs off her face. "Sure."

They covered each other's eyes again and opened the phone book with their joined hands, moving their fingers around only perfunctorily before Betty was pushing downward.

Pulling away from Bruce, she leaned down to read the name under his finger.

"Johnson," she reported.

"That's certainly different," Bruce commented, closing the phone book and grabbing Betty's hand again.

"Do you like it?" Betty asked. "Should we do it another time?"

"Well, what do you think?" He gave her his full attention.

"It's different. But that's not a bad thing. I think Betty and Bruce Johnson has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

He smiled. "Yeah, it does."

They returned the phone book and started back upstairs in the elevator, his arm around her waist.

As they walked, he asked, "So if Tony's my Best Man, who's your Best Woman?"

Betty rolled her eyes, but she had already decided this. "Pepper, definitely. She's been so wonderful in getting me settled here. I mean, I'd like to invite some of my old friends to the wedding, but I don't think any of them really would _fit_, you know? Plus I can't imagine subjecting them to Tony for the sake of pictures."

"The horror!" Bruce joked.

Back in their apartment, they resumed planning vigorously.

* * *

Five months later, when Betty and Bruce Johnson's wedding reception was held, Pepper announced that she and Tony had collaborated on a surprise for the newlyweds.

A video started to play, and the first footage it included was Betty and Bruce, each other's eyes covered, picking out a last name in the phone book. The editor had kindly taken out their unappealing first selection.

Betty laughed loudly, Bruce chuckled more quietly, and that was that.

Betty and Bruce Johnson would go on to be very happy.


End file.
